Jack Cohen's Blog about Israel and other daily amusements

Denouement – after the French massacre

Once upon a time the Jews were always in the opposition, hence the identification of Jews with liberalism, socialism, communism and anarchism. What choice did the Jews have then? We were always the butt of the majority, be it Germans, Poles, Russians, Letts, etc. And once upon a time the Jews always identified with other minorities, such as Blacks, Algerians, etc. But, now that the left and the other minorities have rejected us, there are no natural allies for the Jews in the Diaspora. So we should see the exodus of French Jews not merely as a result of the trigger of the recent Islamic terrorist massacre in France, but as a longer historical process, whereby the Jews have no safe place in the world except Israel (and the USA and Canada, until now).

The round-up of Muslim terrorists in Belgium, most of them born in Belgium, indicates the scope of the coming conflict. Two were killed in a shoot-out, approx. 20 were arrested with another 15 under investigation, including individuals in France, Germany, Holland and Greece. Altogether the reports are that there are ca. 300 Muslims in Belgium alone who have returned from Syria after engaging in combat with the Islamic State or Al Qaeda. Watch this space for future attacks.

Note that most the of the “French Jews” are in fact Jews of North African origin, who when escaping Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia chose to go to France rather than Israel. They were often the more affluent or secular N. African Jews. Now reality has caught up with them. Many secular Jews feel that French culture is superior to Jewish culture, just as the German Jews preferred German culture before WWII. But, they can live a completely secular life here in Israel just as easily as in France.

In an interview Richard Perle, one of my favorite analysts, pointed out that we should not call it the “war on terrorism” since “terrorism” is a method, a technique of warfare used by many causes, Irish, Chechen, as well as Islamist. We should call it what it is, the “war on jihadism” or perhaps more correctly the “war on Islamic extremism” or the “war on Islamism.” NATO is still useful, but it has pretty much outlived its relevance with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. What we need now is an International Anti-Terrorist Organization (IATO) (swap N for I). This should be a true formal alliance of those countries that are prepared to commit troops and funds to fight the war against Islamic terrorism. But, in fact it probably should be named the International Anti-Islamist Alliance (IAIA) (it’s fun to play with acronyms).

Has anyone else noted that “je suis Charlie” = “jesu is Charlie.” Do the Muslims realize this? Of course, in the Muslim world (Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen) the French flag was burned in protest against the new Charlie Hebdo caricature of Mohammed, but since we don’t know what Mohammed looked like, maybe it wasn’t him. Incidentally, a strict interpretation of Islam does not regard Mohammed as sacred, it is God who is sacred and cannot be depicted, whereas Mohammed was merely his prophet. In a little noted incident Palestinians burned the French flag on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These are the same Palestinians the French idolize. We know what side they are on.